The True Bloodstained Black Rabbit

I… I have failed her…

Jack opened his eyes from where he sat, left in the darkness that was once the Abyss. His soul was unable to move on, as was the curse of his sin. No longer able to leave the place where his beloved had been erased and his tool had met its demise. Now he had nothing left. Even the dream of bring back Lacie was too far out of his reach.

"Why? Why did you have to go Lacie?" He called into the black, his emotions bubbling over. Yet there was no answer. He hadn't been expecting one. If by some chance she still existed, she was more likely to be in permanent sleep. Good. At least maybe she is having a happy dream after such a sorrowful life of waiting for death.

A sound startled Jack out of his thoughts and reminisces. Pausing, he listened hard. The sound as he heard it had appeared to be a woman singing. But, as he waited quietly, nothing else came to him. With his slight hope dashed, he disappeared back into his thoughts only to be dragged out again by a familiar song.

"Every time you kissed me I trembled like a child. Gathering the roses, we sang for the hope,"

"Who's there!?" Jack called out, startled. In the back of his mind something nagged him, telling him he should know the answer. Yet, through his panic, he noticed nothing.

"You're very voices in my heartbeat, sweeter than my dream. We were there, in everlasting bloom,"

Only music answered him, annoying Jack to no end. Why couldn't the person just state who they were!? Why did they have to tease him like this!?

"Roses die, the secret is inside the pain. Winds are high upon the hill, I cannot hear you. Come and hold me close, I'm shivering cold in the heart of rain. Darkness falls; I'm calling for the dawn,"

As the voice began to fade, Jack felt a pang in his heart. An emotion kin to regret washed over him, confusing the man. In that confusion, he grasped at the threads of a memory and was greeted with an image of Lacie singing this very song to him on the last day he saw her.

"Lacie! Is that you!?"

"Silver dishes for the memories, for the days gone by. Singing for the promises, tomorrow may bring. I harbor all the old affections, roses of the past. Darkness falls and summer will be gone,"

The voice continued barely above a whisper as a spectral form of Lacie appeared in front of Jack. Joy rushed through the man and he would have ran and hugged her if not for the shock that held him frozen in place. For behind her millions of images sprang up, memories shimmering into existence next to her. A young Lacie giving one of two twin rabbits to the Core of the Abyss, an older her giving the Core the other one as she said goodbye and told the Core to care for her children when she was gone; all these images and more played out before him.

The song continued to play in his ears, a song better he now felt was better fitted to him. Maybe that was why she wrote it, so that he himself could sing it after she was gone. As the song came to an end, the wavering image looked to him, her eyes so real, Jack felt himself shiver.

"Would you help to fulfill my last wish in the other's place?" Her voice came to him, vibrating the air and playing in Jack's ears. That was Lacie alright, if only just another fragment. And, with her asking something so dear to him, he couldn't find it in him to refuse or to insist she came back.

"What do you wish me to do?" was all he could manage to answer. At that, she smiled, flashing her lovely white teeth, before holding her hand out. In her grip bits of golden light formed together into the familiar doll Jack remembered breaking. It was the one who had given him Lacie's last memories.

"He will show you the way,"

Jack watched as doll floated over to him from Lacie. Catching it in his grip, he noticed the rabbit doll looked exactly as it had before he broke it, save for a single missing eye. Touching the soft dark fabric, he looked back up at Lacie.

"How is this doll supposed to help me?" He asked, feeling like he should understand. Yet at the moment his shock turned his mind to tar.

"Shhh. He is sleeping at the moment. But when he wakes up I am sure he will gladly tell you. After all his self-appointed existence is to make my daughter, Alice, smile. Be sure to help him with it," Lacie's form began to fade, her voice a fractured whisper. All he could manage to make out against the black backdrop was her red eyes and the white of her smile.

"Will I meet you again!?" Jack called after her, fear and longing making his skin prickle with desire as she vanished completely. But, on a soft gust of breeze, he could swear he heard the words, Maybe… my love…

Looking back at the stuffed animal, he poked its stomach. When nothing happened he frowned at the doll as he headed back to the place he had been staying. Jack's curiosity made him impatient, but Lacie's words to wait kept him from doing more. So instead he placed the doll on the ground before taking a seat in front of it. Gazing at the motionless black rabbit, he waited for it to wake up.

.oOo.

In the thick of endless night, when all was silent and Jack laid resting, still waiting for the doll to wake and give him directions, its single red eyes gleamed in an unnatural manor. In the folds of its mind, groggy with sleep a single word formed. Alice… And that word continued to bounce around long after being first thought up, until from it an entire decisive sentence played through the rabbits head. Alice needs me. And from that sentence a single decision was made. I have to go to Alice!

.oOo.

When Jack woke, he gazed at the doll. Surprise and confusion registered in his mind. For though the doll was still there, reflected in its eye was the image of a familiar dark-haired girl gazing down at something before picking it up, confusion and slight nostalgia was reflected in her violet gaze.

"Well it seems like some kid left you here. Better take you inside so you aren't ruined before the kid comes to take you,"

Her voice reached Jack through the doll. Yet when it did he was not paying attention. For behind him stood two familiar figures, the siblings smiling at Jack, one being a much loved sight while the other just left him shocked.

"Lacie… Oswald…" He gasped. He had not seen Lacie since the day she had delivered him the sleeping doll to watch over. And her brother he had not seen since the day he had killed him. Lacie was supposed to be gone, the one who spoke to him being a fragment that had been surely destroyed by now. Oswald, he was supposed to be a part of the combined soul of Glen and Jack had freaking murdered the man, so why was he smiling!?

"Close your mouth," Oswald spoke with a smirk.

"We are only here to take you beyond this dark wasteland," Lacie giggled.

"Huh? B-but I thought I wasn't allowed. And I still need to watch over this doll…"

"He can take care of himself now that he is awake, so your duty in watching him has ended," Lacie chimed brightly as Jack could only manage a puzzled stare.

"You have already paid your dues. To go on not forgiving you and keeping you trapped here would be an over-reaction," Oswald spoke plainly, unnerving Jack. But, in the calm folds of his voice, Jack felt reassured beyond anything. Not to mention Lacie, who sat smiling calmly at his friend's side. In staring at the two, Jack was overjoyed beyond comparison and, unable to restrain himself any longer, he hugged them.

The two siblings let Jack have his fun and, as the sweet moment drew to a close, they both pulled away.

"Let's get going," Oswald said, turning and vanishing into nothingness. Lacie paused though, looking back at Jack, who smiled in response.

"Go ahead. I will catch up,"

Jack stayed still and watched as Lacie vanished, before looking back at the doll that rested, sitting up in the black. Walking before it, he bent forward and looked into its eyes.

"Thank you for all your hard work. Now go and have fun. You deserve it, Oz…"

Turning away from the doll and facing where Lacie and Oswald had vanished, Jack followed, leaving the doll behind. And there the doll would continue to sit for the rest of time, its soul far away, enjoying the gift Jack gave it; the ability to be Alice's Oz once more… Thank you… Jack…